This invention relates to a disk carrying apparatus and a disk carrying method, and more particularly to a disk carrying apparatus and a disk carrying method for a disk carrying apparatus which includes a disk carrying section for carrying a disk-type recording medium and a disk accommodation section for accommodating the disk-type recording medium.
Disk carrying apparatus wherein a disk-type recording medium is carried by a disk carrying section are conventionally available. As one of disk carrying apparatus of the type mentioned, an apparatus called disk changer is available. The disk changer includes a disk accommodation section having a plurality of accommodation shelves for accommodating a plurality of disk-type recording media separately from each other. A disk-type recording medium is transferred between the disk carrying section and any of the disk accommodation shelves to exchange the disk-type recording medium.
In such a disk changer as described above, in order to accommodate a disk-type recording medium in an appropriate condition from the disk carrying section into each of the accommodation shelves of the disk accommodation section, it is necessary for the disk carrying section to be set to an optimum stop position with respect to each of the accommodation shelves of the disk accommodation section. Thus, positioning adjustment for setting the disk carrying section to the optimum stop position is performed.
The following methods for positioning adjustment of a conventional disk changer are available.
(1) A light intercepting plate is provided separately for each of a plurality of accommodation shelves while a pair of photo-couplers for position detection are provided on the disk carrying section. The disk changer detects an edge of each of the light intercepting plates by the photo-couplers and stops the disk carrying section within an allowable range for a stop position set in advance based on a result of the detection.
(2) The disk changer sets an origin position for the disk carrying section in advance and measures the distances between arbitrary several accommodation shelves and the origin using a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera. Then, the disk changer calculates displacement amounts in distance from designed distances between the accommodation shelves and the origin based on results of the measurement and corrects the designed distances with the displacement amounts.
However, in the method (1) in the conventional disk changer described above, a pulse counter, an oscilloscope and so forth for determining the allowable range for a stop position are required and a light intercepting plate is required for each of the accommodation shelves. Therefore, the method (1) has a problem in that a number of parts are required and it costs a lot.
In the method (2) described above, a high degree of reliability in positioning adjustment can be assured with the arbitrary several accommodation shelves with regard to which actual measurement is performed. However, also such accommodation shelves which do not allow sufficient correction possibly remain, and therefore, a high degree of reliability in positioning adjustment as a whole may not sometimes be assured. Further, the method (2) requires a CCD camera for measurement and has a problem also in that it costs a lot similarly to the method (1).
It is an object of the present invention to provide a disk carrying apparatus and a disk carrying method by which positioning adjustment for setting a disk carrying section to an optimum stop position with respect to a disk accommodating section can be performed at a low cost.
In order to attain the object described above, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk carrying apparatus, comprising a disk carrying section for carrying a disk-type recording medium, a disk accommodation section including a plurality of layered accommodation shelves for accommodating the disk-type recording medium carried by the disk carrying section into one of the accommodation shelves, a storage section for storing position information of the disk carrying section with respect to the accommodation shelves of the disk accommodation section, control means for controlling the disk carrying section in accordance with the position information stored in the storage section to move to a position corresponding to each of the accommodation shelves, stopping state detection means including a light emitting element and a light receiving element provided on the disk carrying section adjacent the disk accommodation section for detecting a stopping state of the disk carrying section with respect to each of the accommodation shelves based on a received light amount of the light receiving element depending upon a state of a light intercepting disk which is transferred between the disk carrying section and the accommodation shelf, and updating means for determining an optimum stop position of the disk carrying section with respect to each of the accommodation shelves in response to the stopping state detected by the stopping state detection means and updating the position information stored in the storage section with the position information corresponding to the optimum stop position.
The disk carrying apparatus is advantageous in that positioning adjustment for setting the optimum position of the disk carrying section with respect to the accommodation shelf of the disk carrying section can be performed at a low cost with a small number of parts without the necessity to use expensive detection means like a measuring instrument such as, for example, a CCD camera or an oscilloscope.
The stopping state detection means may detect the stopping state of the disk carrying section in a state wherein the center of gravity of the light intercepting disk is positioned in the accommodation shelf after the light intercepting disk is moved from the disk carrying section to the disk accommodation section. The disk carrying apparatus is advantageous in that detection of the stop position is performed with certainty, and further augmentation of the reliability in detection of the optimum stop position can be anticipated.
The disk carrying apparatus may further comprise a disk supporting section for supporting the light intercepting disk moved from the disk carrying section to the disk accommodation section, and the disk supporting section may have a passing hole formed therein for light from the light emitting element to the light receiving element and the stopping state detection means may detect the stopping state of the disk carrying section from rays of light emitted from the light emitting element and received by the light receiving element through a space defined by the light intercepting disk and the passing hole. The disk carrying apparatus is advantageous in that detection of the optimum stop position can be performed very readily.
Preferably, the control means controls the disk carrying section to move to a plurality of stop positions with respect to a predetermined one of the accommodation shelves and the stopping state detection means detects the stopping state for each of the plurality of stop positions, and the updating means determines an optimum stop position of the disk carrying section with respect to the accommodation shelf in response to the detected stop positions and updates the position information for the accommodation shelf stored in the storage section with the position information corresponding to the optimum stop position. The disk carrying apparatus is advantageous in that detection of the optimum stop position can be performed accurately when compared with an alternative case wherein, for example, an actual displacement amount is detected by calculation with reference to a designed value to set an optimum stop position.
Further preferably, the control means controls the disk carrying section to move to a second stop position in a particular direction after the stopping state when the disk carrying section is at a first stop position corresponding to the position information for the predetermined accommodation shelf stored in the storage section is detected, and the stopping state detection means acquires a first detection result of a voltage based on the received light amount of the light receiving element corresponding to the first stop position and a second detection result of a voltage based on the received light amount of the light receiving element corresponding to the second stop position, and then the control means determines a direction of movement of the disk carrying section to a third stop position in response to a variation from the first detection result to the second detection result and controls the movement of the disk carrying section. The disk carrying apparatus is advantageous in that the procedure of positioning adjustment is simple and malfunction is prevented. The disk carrying apparatus is advantages also in that, since also control is easy, also reduction of the adjustment time can be anticipated.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk carrying method, comprising the steps of moving a disk carrying section to a stop position opposing to one of a plurality of accommodation shelves layered in a disk accommodation section, moving a light intercepting disk carried by the disk carrying section to the accommodation shelf, measuring, using a light emitting element and a light receiving element provided on the disk carrying section in an opposing relationship to each other across the light intercepting disk, a received light amount of the light receiving element at the stop position, and determining an optimum stop position of the disk carrying section with respect to the accommodation shelf in accordance with the received light amount.
The disk carrying method is advantageous in that positioning adjustment for setting the optimum position of the disk carrying section with respect to the accommodation shelf of the disk carrying section can be performed at a low cost with a small number of parts without the necessity to use expensive detection means like a measuring instrument such as, for example, a CCD camera or an oscilloscope.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the Appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts or elements denoted by like reference symbols.